Chapter 13 | Talisman

Everyone deserves a second chance.

His dagger kept changing directions mid-swing. Out of every 11 attacks the young man did, 10 were feints. But Satou had been in far too many fights to be done in like that. Sure, this person was strong, overwhelmingly so. But that was as far as it went. He was a rabid dog with a sword, no more, no less.

“You liars took everything I had, my second chance! I will take it back no matter the cost,” the young man rambled on and on. His sword clamped down on Satou’s dagger. Ugh… He hits like an ogre chieftain. Both blades rattled, singing a bitter melody.

Fighting melee like this will always feel weird. Satou gathered his breath. After all, modern assassins didn’t really use daggers as more than a supplementary tool. Hell, they didn’t get into altercations most of the time at all. They were efficient in killing, hidden weapons, guns, bats, a clean hit to the head and that would be all. It was rare that they would get a target that could put up a fight.

“You are mistaken! We don’t know you at all,” Satou tried reasoning. All for naught, however, as the young man in front of him had visibly lost it. Not only did his actions betray madness, but it had engraved itself into his fighting style. He had given more than 20 openings since the start of the fight, five of which would have been completely lethal.

But I’m better than that, I won’t commit the same mistakes again. Not in this life.

With five graceful parries, Satou pushed back the young man a couple of steps for the first time. He could hear Theo and Long Tian bickering behind him, and he didn’t want to endanger the two young men. They both were too innocent for this world, and they deserved much more than whatever this was.

“Bastard, I will find Klein and dissect your corpse while he watches!”

“Klein? You know Klein?” Satou took a step back and frowned. He held his dagger down momentarily. The young man didn’t miss the opportunity, however. In through one ear and out the other, he didn’t answer at all. Satou gritted his teeth and deflected the attacks. Each one carried the weight of a bull behind them. Not only did he have to push against the force, he had to make sure the collateral of the attacks didn’t reach the other two.

“I’m an enemy of Klein too! But this is not the way to resolve your problems, young man. Sheathe your sword and let us talk,” Satou implored. “I’m Satou; I was escaping from Klein when I entered this tower,” he said with his arms raised.

“You… You are his enemy too?” The young man with the sword stepped forward, his guard low and his face ghastly.

This is my chance.

“Yes! Yes. The new king asked for help from Hero Klein. He saw me as a threat to his sovereignty,” Satou explained. The image of that brilliant golden aura chasing him didn’t leave his mind even for a second. If someone asked what a monster was, he would point toward that man without an ounce of hesitation.

“I knew it! I told them… I told them crowning an abnormal wasn’t a good idea. Abnormals are selfish. They don’t see this world as real. They do whatever they want without bothering with others’ lives. After all…” the young man muttered. His hand covered half of his face, the red energy bleeding from his body long muffled. “After all, I’m one of them.”

He went silent. His body slouched, his hand losing grip on his sword. The sword fell down and clattered against the ground. Seeing that, Satou stepped forward, raising his hand to pat the young man’s shoulder.

I knew I could—

“Ugh…”

Blood pooled in the assassin’s mouth. He felt a strange lightness in his torso. The young man’s face rose, a crazed, 32-teeth grin radiating madness.

“You will do everything to fuck me over, won’t you? You’ll attempt to deceive and to lie and to fake…” he hissed through his teeth. A long, vertical line of red appeared across Satou’s entire chest. The young man’s hand was covered in red energy, held straight out like a blade. Blood dripped from it.

Satou’s vision blurred. He had managed to coat his torso with some aura, but it was too late. Even if he hadn’t been completely bisected, all of his organs had been completely jumbled. He could feel it, his aura leaked out when he tried passing it through his central aura traces.

This is it for me.

“Fucking finally!” Theo suddenly shouted. A brilliant light shone down the corridor, attracting Satou’s dissipating attention.

The young mage had raised his hand, a yellow talisman held between his index and middle fingers. Satou remembered seeing something like that in his past world, but his head was getting too foggy to really think.

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“Take this!” The talisman in Theo’s hand blurred for a moment, then it shone in blinding silver. As if the moon itself had descended upon them, the light pooled and grew into a large circle in front of Theo. Then, like a magnifying glass, the silver focused all of the light onto Satou’s back.

Before Satou could question what was going on, the energy filled into his body. It bloated him. The emptying, dry aura traces in his body swelled with energy. His nearly bisected body connected once again, all the severed veins reconnecting in just the right places. His organs healed stronger than before, his almost amputated shoulder reconnecting.

Then, Satou swung his fist.

Using the moment the young man was confused, and all the excess energy gathered in his body, Satou slammed the flat of his fist against the crazed youngster’s chin. Before he could even register what was happening, his head kicked back, causing him to be launched against the wall head-first.

A deafening explosion resounded. The wall caved in as Satou was slung backward because of the force of his own punch.

His back slammed against the opposite wall, knocking the wind right out of his lungs. Vision swimming, head dizzy, Satou took deep and wheezy breaths. The sudden increases and dips in his aura reserves made him sick, but he knew. He had knocked the young man right out. He could rest at least a little bit.

Are the other two okay?

He barely managed to turn his head and take a look. Long Tian was on the ground, his mouth hanging open in awe. Theo, on the other hand, was…

What? What is he doing?